"Malke" wrote:

> Disgruntled Customer wrote:
>
> > I have three desktops and a laptop in a Workgroup, all are on WIN XP. One
> > is on SP3, all others on SP2. I have shared folders enabled on each
> > desktop. I see the Workgroup icon on My Network Places, but cannot open it
> > up to read folders on the other computers. I went through all the
> > Troubleshooting items
> > on Help but  none have helped solve the problem. Does anyone have a
> > solution?
>
> I'm sorry you are disgruntled, but it is doubtful that "Win XP" itself is
> the culprit. You don't say whether your Local Area Network sharing has ever
> worked or you are just now trying to set it up. If it has worked, then what
> changed?
>
> Otherwise, here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything
> may be applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may
> look daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions
> below systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up
> your sharing.
>
> For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
> caveat in Item A below).
>
> Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
> by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
> firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
> built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
> identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
> to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.
>
> A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
> traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
> Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
> XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
> will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
> third-party firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm
> Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're
> fine.  With third-party firewalls,  I usually configure the LAN allowance
> with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you
> would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO
> NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.
>
> B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
> is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.
>
> C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
> need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
> assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
> need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
> PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
> to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
> can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:
>
> Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm
>
> D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
> Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).
>
> E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
> directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
> directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
>